TV-TWO Roadtrip Part 3: London & Austin

And so, we reach the final leg of TV-TWO’s whirlwind World tour!

Asia was a blast — in so many different ways; not least because of the sheer amount of enthusiasm we saw for both crypto and blockchain technology. But the Western world has a different outlook on these things.

That’s not to say crypto isn’t as popular as in, say, Japan or Korea, but it’s been slower to become adopted by the mainstream in the West — particularly from an investment perspective. But Jan and Philipp were keen to get a good understanding of how TV-TWO is being perceived around the world in all major markets; so ‘Go West’ these young men did.

Austin-bound. Yeah baby!

London Calling

Being the finance capital of the world, London’s pretty crypto-cognisant. So the Crypto Investor Show was the place to be; particularly as it had a such a strong focus on retail investors. Perfect for TV-TWO, as we offer a product for the broad masses.

Optimism ran high. It was as if every visitor stopped by the stand! The guys took almost 1,000 copies of our one pager with them — and our Captain TV-TWO shirts were gone in the blink of an eye. The feedback we received was great too, as visitors had the chance to test our application for themselves at our booth!

Interest was high at London’s Crypto Investor Show… but where’s Jan?

Both Jan and Philipp had the opportunity to join a speaker panel each; Jan was part of the event’s final panel discussing the future of the blockchain (of course, with particular emphasis on how we plan on bringing it into the living rooms around the world!), while Philipp pitched on the ICO stage.

Here he is! Jan talks TV and technical stuff at the Crypto Investor Show

And, then after just three hours’ sleep, it was time to head to the airport… again.

Austin Power

Arriving in Austin, Texas, for the one and only SXSW. The guys were met by our TV-TWO advisor Oliver Laurence, who was kind enough to be our founders’ host and guide for the five day festival. Long regarded as the place where creatives of all kinds congregate, SXSW has since involved into a thriving hub of innovation. And crypto was definitely on the agenda this year.

Philipp pitched at the Crypto Friends Summit in front of a great jury, made up of well-known industry people, including the Bad Crypto podcast guys and Augur founder, Jeremy Gardner — among others.

Philipp took to the stage at SXSW’s Crypto Friends Summit

While the schedule was jam packed, the festival was a chance to meet everyone from big tech companies to small content creators. And it seemed that everyone J & P spoke to loved the approach of building a decentralized TV platform; and increasing transparency for content creators and advertisers.

Unfortunately, all of the big stage events were fully booked, so they didn’t get to pitch to Elon about getting TV-TWO on the Mars Mission. That said, they did briefly bump into Steven Spielberg, and (perhaps more excitingly) met Austrian crypto entrepreneur and tenX founder, Julian Hosp.

Speaking our language: Jan and Austrian tenX founder, Julian Hosp

The more people the guys spoke to stateside, the more they were convinced that the US is THE market for TV-TWO. It’s the home of entertainment; where the biggest ad budgets are to be found, and where crypto adoption continues to grow daily. But, as those following crypto news will know, regulation continues to be a big topic in America; as do the interests of the government’s SEC agency (and if you’re a Suits fan you’ll know all about them…).

Panasonic House at SXSW was fun — thanks to our advisor Oliver Laurence, and Japanese crypto specialist, Julia Della Scalla.

Three Days In The Valley

But the trip didn’t end there. On the back of a few impromptu meetings and recommendations at SXSW the guys founded themselves heading West once again; hopping on a plane to San Francisco to attend Token Fest. This was less a chance to present and more an opportunity to meet with some Silicon Valley influencers — and get the TV-TWO brand seen by some key people in the most tech savvy places on the planet. Plus they got to meet up with some of the US’ leading crypto funds to pitch our project (more on this coming very soon!).

Our founders swung by San Francisco, as well

From there, it was back home to Berlin for the guys; and time to briefly reflect on the story so far and get ready for the increasingly closer ICO.

But what have these incredible experiences taught them? What have they learnt and how will this be applied to TV-TWO moving forward?

Well, as Philipp poignantly put it:

“Our aim was to try to make an impact. But getting firsthand insights and building a personal network was just as important. We are now creating our rollout plan for the next few months in line with what we learnt and we’ll definitely be reaching out to a lot of the connections we made. I’m confident this won’t just make the TV-TWO platform the best it can be; it’ll help us keep more perspective on our users and what their needs are.”

And that’s where the roadtrip story ends (for now). But TV-TWO’s journey is still just beginning. Stay tuned, guys!